ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT
MEETING DATE: April 22, 2026 AGENDA CATEGORY: Consent – Job Specification & Salary Updates TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council
FROM: Christi Tenter, Human Resources Director
DATE: April 9, 2026
SUBJECT: Resolutions Approving Salaries and Benefits for Related Fire Units 5.13.26
1. Amendment No. 1 to Resolution 12-2026 Approving the Memorandum of Understanding, Setting Salaries and Related Benefits for Firefighter and Engineers Represented by the Bakersfield Professional Fire Association.
2. Amendment No. 1 to Resolution 13-2026 Approving the Memorandum of Understanding, Setting Salaries and Related Benefits for Supervisory Employees Represented by the Bakersfield Professional Fire Association.
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends adoption of the Resolutions.
BACKGROUND:
Income reported by employers to the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) has specific conditions regulated by Compliance with the Public Employees' Retirement Law (PERL) Government (Gov.) Code and California Code of Regulations (CCR). A particular requirement surrounds the eligibility and reporting of “special compensation.” Special compensation is what a member may be paid, in addition to the base regular rate, pursuant to a labor policy (MOU) and is reported in addition to and separa tely from pay rate. Eligibility of pensionable special compensation is used to calculate retirement benefits and defined by CalPERS. Uniform allowance, holiday pay, and education pay are a few examples of pay types which are defined as eligible special co mpensation, however pensionable reporting varies by member type (Classic vs. PEPRA).
The City has recently been notified by CalPERS that our labor agreements must be slightly modified in order to continue to use special compensation as a calculated retirement benefit for scheduled overtime.
It has been the City’s intent to provide these pay types as pensionable and we have an established practice of reporting this compensation to CalPERS. To rectify this matter, language modifications have been made which satisfy the conditions of Gov. Code section 20636 and CCR section 571. This language update expressly documents the intent and understanding of the existing benefit and does not expand or otherwise create any new benefit for applicable members.
FISCAL IMPACT:
No budget impacts.
COUNCIL GOAL:
Innovative and Efficient City Government
ATTACHMENTS:
1. BPFA Reso Amend 1 to 12-2026
2. BPFA Reso Amend 1 to 13-2026